Let's not go the way of Texas

Brendan Madigan's recommendation that Maryland follow the lead of Texas is quite interesting ("A Texas solution to Maryland Jobs," June 23).

Is he aware that the "Texas miracle" has led to a budget deficit expected to run as high as $25 billion over the next two years? Or that, in response to this deficit, the Texas legislature approved a new budget with $15 billion in cuts, $4 billion of which will be from public education?

As Barbara Bush wrote in an opinion piece in February of this year, "[Texas] schools are in crisis. We rank 36th in the nation in high school graduation rates. We rank 49th in verbal SAT scores, 47th in literacy and 46th in math SAT scores."

So, of course, the Texas legislature's response to the abysmal performance of the state's schools was to cut funding for education.

If we want to sink to the level of one of the worst public education systems in the country, by all means, let's follow the Texas model.

I personally prefer to pay the price — that is, a reasonable level of taxes — to support one of the best public education systems in the U.S.